Archive for May, 2007
I just received another note from ONE member Nancy Warlick who has been in Africa for the past 3 weeks. She and 13 others from their Orlando church are now on their way to Mozambique to visit several crises orphanages. I received many photographs from Nancy, and chose a few that I thought I’d share. I was immediately drawn to this little girl from the Namumu Orphanage holding the ONE band. One of the main reasons I first got involved with ONE was in hopes of being able to make a change in a life of a child. When I see a photo like this, I am more inspired to do what I do.
Joan Faulkner , ONE Regional Field Organizer
>>>
Joan,
Greetings from Antananarivo, the capitol of Madagascar, located off the south eastern coast of Africa. As people here say, Manahoana, (hello or
good day in Malagasy). I will also say Bonjour (which is hello in French.) I have been here for over a week now and am having a great time with my two grandchildren, and the whole family.
Our daughter Elizabeth is a nurse and a public health specialist who works with the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM) on HIV/AIDS education & awareness, helping people overcome AIDS stigmatization, malaria eradication, clean water projects and helping rural villages to mobilize for wells.
Madagascar is one of the 10 poorest countries in the world with a population of 20 million people. This island country was the first country selected to receive a money award from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) in 2005. The MCA aims to help support economic growth and poverty reduction in poor countries whose governments rule justly.
It will be hard to leave on Wednesday, but I am so happy to have had such a good visit with part of my family, as well as with many Malagasy friends with whom we have worked.
Of course, I have taken a lot of photos and have given out some ONE stickers, several ONE T-shirts and white bracelets. On Monday, I will be talking about the ONE Campaign with the students at the school where my grandchildren attend. I will take a group photo here because this school is like a mini-United Nations, with students from Madagascar, U. S., Britain, South Africa, Korea and India.
Au revoir (good-bye in French) and Veloma (good-bye in Malagasy). Hope you can come visit this beautiful island some day and meet some of the warm and gracious people here. I want to share with all of you and tell you more about Madagascar and those who live here, but I must close for now.
Warmest regards,
Nancy W. Warlick
.
As I’m not a regular church goer, I usually find reflection in my Sunday yoga class. This morning was different though. Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori wrote a though provoking piece about the interconnectedness of poverty and climate change in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle.
Excerpts:
“Before I became a priest, I was a professor of oceanography. One of the things I learned was that oceanographers couldn’t just study squid or fish in isolation. We had to study interconnected systems…”
“Two of the most significant crises facing our world — climate change and deadly poverty — offer an example of such interconnectedness. By understanding how the two crises, and the people they affect, are connected, we can begin to understand how humanity can triumph over both…”
You can read the full piece here.
Tomorrow, the Africa and Global Health Subcommittee will host a hearing on “Vulture Funds and the Threat to Debt Relief in Africa: A Call to Action at the G8 and Beyond.”
Witnesses will include Danny Glover, actor and chairman of the board of TransAfrica Forum, Inc.
Stop by (Rayburn House Office Building at 2 p.m.) or watch live online here.
With hundreds of people gathered at Chillicothe for Ohio’s Battle of the Bands, the ONE Chillicothe group had a great opportunity this past Sunday.
Thanks to the General Manager/Managing Editor Mike Throne of the Chillicothe Gazette, ONE was everywhere that night. All of the emcees for the event wore ONE shirts & wristbands, all the bands wore ONE wristbands and the ONE Chillicothe group was able to take the stage to talk about ONE and how everyone can get involved locally.
Many of the local bands (In the Red, Lunarium, Rhythm Stitches, Surviving Midnight & Zac McFadden Friends) that night committed to spreading ONE at their shows and are making plans with ONE Chillicothe to do just that.
Keep up the great work, Chillicothe. You rock!
Check out more of the awesome pictures that the Chillicothe Gazette took that night. (Try to count all of the wristbands and shirts you see.)
This week, DATA (debt AIDS trade africa) released their annual DATA Report.
The 2007 reports details some promising initial results from recent increases in health and education aid to Africa. Some examples: 1,450 Africans are placed on life-saving AIDS medications every day due to global health assistance programs and 20 million more African children go to school every day due in part to debt cancellation and aid.
In terms of the G-8 countries’ 2005 pledge to increase spending by $25 billion by 2010, the DATA Report states that the UK and Japan are on track to meet their promises, the U.S. is nearly on track and has been a leader on fighting AIDS, and Canada, Germany, France and Italy are all off track.
The report includes deep analysis on trade, debt, health, education, water and sanitation, governance, and peace and security.
Read the executive summary and the full report, and then strut your stuff with all you know.
I represented ONE in Dubuque last night as presidential candidates Senators Joe Biden and Christopher Dodd took part in a Dubuque County Hall of Fame Dinner. Both senators as well as representatives of each Democratic hopeful took time to talk to the crowd of about 300. Included in the the group was Governor Chet Culver, who was on hand to honor his father former U.S. Senator John Culver.
While most of the speeches revolved around Iowa politics and the Iraq war I was able to spread the message of ONE to people who mostly were just curious what the big ONE on my shirt was about. Once I told them and handed them a flyer they were very excited to learn about the campaign and to know that Iowa was becoming involved. Many people pledged support after hearing our mission.
As Sen. Dodd was entering the dinner, I was able to hand him a ONE band which he gladly accepted and put on. Both Sen. Dodd’s people and Sen. Biden’s people emphasized to me the importance of the ONE Campaign and how strongly each candidate felt on the issue.
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has resigned his post, effective June 30.
From ABC Breaking News:
“An internal panel tasked with investigating the lucrative pay and promotion package Wolfowitz arranged in 2005 for girlfriend Shaha Riza found him guilty of breaking bank rules.
The committee also found that he tried to hide the salary and promotion package from top ethics and legal officials within the bank. The report added that there is a “crisis in the leadership” at the World Bank.
Wolfowitz is the first World Bank president to ever leave the bank under a cloud of scandal.”
On the homepage of their website, the World Bank pledges “to refocus attention on where it is most needed: on the critical work we are doing to improve the lives of people in developing countries.”
Read the full piece here.
